Bob Hope

Bob Hope
(entertainer, born May 29, 1903, Eltham, England; died July 27, 2003)
The man, who it is calculated has been seen by more people than any
other entertainer on earth during his more than seven decades in show
business, has been declared a "a part of American folklore" by a Senate
resolution. In just about every country people know the performer, whose
rapid-fire comedy technique, flawless sense of timing and impeccable delivery
have invaded their lands and touched a common chord in their humanity.
His motion pictures exceed 50. His radio and television show are literally
countless.
The great entertainer was born Leslie Townes Hope, the fifth of six
sons of a stone mason in London.

Bob Hope
(entertainer, born May 29, 1903, Eltham, England; died July 27, 2003)

The man, who it is calculated has been seen by more people than any
other entertainer on earth during his more than seven decades in show
business, has been declared a "a part of American folklore" by a Senate
resolution. In just about every country people know the performer, whose
rapid-fire comedy technique, flawless sense of timing and impeccable delivery
have invaded their lands and touched a common chord in their humanity.
His motion pictures exceed 50. His radio and television show are literally
countless.

The great entertainer was born Leslie Townes Hope, the fifth of six
sons of a stone mason in London. His father brought the family to Cleveland,
Ohio, when Bob was 3. and the youngster received his education there at
the Fairmont Grammar School and High School. He was given singing lessons
by his mother, Agnes, who had been a Welsh concert singer. It has been
said that he discovered the delight in making people laugh when his voice
cracked one day while he was singing "The End of a Perfect Day" at a family
gathering.

During his schooldays, young Hope earned money working in a shoe store,
a pharmacy, in his older brother's meat market, and as a paper boy and
golf caddy. He learned tap-dancing in high school and, when the instructor
left for Hollywood, he took the classes for a time. At the age of 10,
he had won a Charlie Chaplin imitation contest but did not return to comedy
until, after striking out a boxing career, under the name Packy East,
he learned that several acts were needed to fill out the bill of a Cleveland
theater. He acquired a partner named George Byrne, and together they worked
out a dance routine, calling themselves "Two Diamonds in the Rough." A
vaudeville tour followed.

It was in Newcastle, Indiana, after appearances on Broadway in The
Sidewalks of New York and Smiles, that Hope emerged as a monologist.
In announcing a coming performance at the theater, he burlesqued the announcement
and told Scotch jokes with such success that he decided to be a solo performer.
His business card red "Bob Hope: Monology and Eccentric Dancing," and
he played vaudeville theaters, including the Stratford Theatre in Chicago,
and then formed his own company, which included Edgar Bergen and Charlie
McCarthy.

Hope made it back to Broadway, first with Ballyhoo, a 1932 musical,
followed the next year by his starring role as Huckleberry Haines in Roberta
with Fay Templeton and Sydney Greenstreet plus a young singer named Dolores
Reade, whom he married at that time and with whom he has shared his life
since.

In 1935, the year he appeared in Ziegfeld Follies with Fanny
Brice and the year before his appearance with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante
in Red, Hot and Blue, Hope did his first radio show, "Atlantic
Family." His own radio show was introduced in the fall of 1938. As a result
of it, he was asked by Paramount Studios to appear with other radio performers
in the film The Big Broadcast of 1938. Instead of utilizing his
comedic talents, the producers assigned him to sing (with Shirley Ross)
the song "Thanks for the Memory," which was to become his theme. Among
a handful of films in which he subsequently appeared were College Swing,
Thanks for the Memory, and, most importantly, The Cat and the
Canary with Paulette Goddard in 1939.

A new phase of his career began in 1940 when he set out on the Road
to Singapore, the first of the film "Roads" he was to travel with
Bing Crosby, whom he had first met at New York's Capitol Theater eight
years before, when Crosby was the featured singer and Hope was the emcee.

The seven blockbuster "Road" pictures, starting with Singapore
and including Zanzibar, Morocco, Utopia, Rio, Bali and sometime
later, Hong Kong. At the time of Crosby's death in 1977, the two
were plotting an eight "Road"--To the Fountain of Youth.

"There was a chemistry between us," says Hope. "I could feed Bing a
great line and he could feed me a great line, then half the time we were
robbing each other, trying to steal each other's lines, so it made for
a great circus of gags."

Between "Road" trips, there were many other hit comedy films for Hope
including Monsieur Beaucaire, My Favorite Blonde, My Favorite Brunette,
My Favorite Spy, Casanova's Big Night, The Paleface, Sorrowful Jones,
Fancy Pants, The Lemon Drop Kid, Seven Little Foys (in which he played
his most dramatic role as Eddie Foy and for which he received critical
praise) Beau James, The Facts of Life and Cancel My Reservation.

The television show "Star Spangled Revue," presented on Easter Sunday,
1950, marked the first of his myriad appearances on the then new medium.
Among his innumerable awards are five special Oscars for humanitarian
work. He has also created the USO international headquarters named after
him.